Learning a Language is tough!

Haha :slight_smile: Can we all just come together as a community and agree that learning a languages is tough work. No matter if its a category 1 language or a category 5.
Its difficult to keep that Marathon mindset. Been having a hard time the past couple of days, I feel very far away from my goals. But it does help remembering what I have already accomplished.
Learning a language is definitely a journey to say the least.

How are you guys doing on your Language learning? Are you close to your goals? What are your goals?

12 Likes

Hang in there! Iā€™m on track for my goals but of course itā€™d be easier if this was my job and I didnā€™t have school or work to worry about. I hope to reach 10k words in spanish by february and 30k in german by next year. I just need someone to compete with like in sports/school. Iā€™ve been spreading the word out for Lingq every time I meet people wanting too learn a language but of course itā€™s difficult to get them to stick with it. But I donā€™t really think about long term goals since it seems unattainable which is why I just shoot for a 100 hundred words a day for german and spanish, which isnā€™t hard considering similarities to english. Try to integrate languages into your everyday life. If you are fluent in some, watch only tv or youtube in those languages. Listen to some music in those languages in the car.
ps-be an au pair for a summer in a country of your choice, Iā€™ve been looking into it :smiley:

10 Likes

I really like how you compared reaching language fluency to reacting finish line in a marathon. I did two marathons and the mistake was always the same - starting too fast.
So, if I feel a lack of motivation while doing my language marathon - I know, at some point I was running too fast. As in a real marathon, you should do only one thing - go forward no matter how fast.
Personally, in such situation I turn to something absolutely new - like for me recently it was German rap music - I chill but do not stop.

7 Likes

I guess you could say I am a lazy language learner: I do not try to follow some kind of programm and nothing really preoccupies me even if the progress isnā€™t as rapid as I would love it to be. I dunno, language learning seems so integral to me, thereā€™s just something about it that appeals to me so much, so all the toughness does not bother me at all.

7 Likes

My progress is very slow in Chinese. I have periodically increased the amount of time I dedicate to language learning. I study about 2-3 hours a day not including listening and other passive study methods and currently average about 25 words a day. The way I stay motivated is kinda counter intuitive. I helps me not to have goals. I do have general rules I like to follow like how much time I will dedicate to studying but I try not to think about the result. I just honor the study routine I set and stick to it. I figure if I keep studying I will keep improving.

3 Likes

Yeah it feels like a marathon for me as well, there have been many times where I have felt like giving up. I guess just like a marathon runner you need to pace yourself between running fast, covering lots of ground and jogging at a high but consistent speed.

I am in a happy place where I can understand all my languages well but I am far away from my goals in terms of speaking, this summer vacation I have decided to nail down the fine points of grammar (:yum:). One of the problems I have I do not like being put into a situation where there will be a lot of aahing and humming.

I am getting closer to a huge side goal of becoming a lay expert on grammar, my ultimate goal is to achieve a C1 certificate in 3 romance language, and German plus a C2 in English (maybe) by the end of 2020. It would be pretty cool to have a B2 certificate for Russian, Greek and maybe another Slavic language, probably Polish, Ukrainian or Bulgarian (not much content though).

One thing that I have learnt in terms of marathon mindset it is better to set a average daily target of time spent and try to beat it than to obsessionally do as much as possible every day. If I during this month do 3 hours 20 minutes a day I will have spent 100 hours doing things. For most days I have done somewhere between 4-5 hours. There have been lazy days but overall I believe I can easily average 4 hours a day consistently compared to last month when I did 6-7 hours day back to back. At the end of the month I ended up doing under two hours days at best which meant my pro activity dropped.

5 Likes

Everything is quite tough in our life!
But in contrast to a mechanical repetetive work language learning brings us every day new small discoveries in our target language - and I deeply appreciate them because they make me happier!

7 Likes

Word count rising, but I rarely feel like listening to anything other than music. Struggling to focus on SteveĀ“s book and other content on LingQ. Music is great though, ć‚«ćƒć‚³ć‚¢ćƒ¤ćƒŽ and MOROHA is more than enough to keep me going. Speaking is really difficult. Some of the language should be in the back of my head but I donĀ“t really know where to start when making a sentence.

Normally I wouldnĀ“t rush to speak early, but thereĀ“s a friend who wants to speak Japanese with me (not complaining). Thing is, we have been speaking my native language for a long time now and so switching to Japanese feels a bit awkward and forced. And since I canĀ“t say much of anything meaningful yet, thereĀ“s no way she can see the progress that I see, and so every time thereĀ“s a slight feeling of disappointment.

4 Likes

Yes, input, input, inout. Stay positive. Stay motivated. Keep at the vocab after all, you wonā€™t be able to understand nor read nor speak if you donā€™ have the vocab. Sometimes review a positive YouTube - like those by Steve, Olly, and others. No fast way - after all, everything takes time and effort - like making bread from dry ingredients.

I use Goldlist, Memrise and Anki AND lots of reading and lingq mini-stories. Daily face-to-face sessions with a tutor helps too.

Lots to do 4+ hours a day. Going out into my community helps me with attuning my ear. So does speaking the occasional phrase (often incorrectly, BUT sometimes correctly).

Oh, did I mention persistence, positivism, and motivation? Have fun, and be kind to yourself too :kissing_heart: After all, you are your own best friend.

4 Likes

Music is a great way to chill but not stop, especially with longer lyrics :wink: I like to import entire albums, lingQ everything and just listen through.

2 Likes

Hey, if weā€™re being honest, I suck :grin: I simply canā€™t stay with one language after a month-ish, except to complete exams in the past or finish off a LingQ challenge. Annoying, but thatā€™s the way my brainā€™s wired.

2 Likes

Hey JulieS. Challenge-to-Challenge is simply a series of steps in anyoneā€™s language acquisition ā€œjourneyā€. Keep up with those challenges and eventually you will be much better at ā€œyourā€ language than you are nowā€¦
Persistence is a series of small steps/challenges producing a major journey/trip/event.

3 Likes

I agree that learning a language is hard. Especially if you are a beginner or if you do not have basic knowledge. I stopped studying English at the institute, I took it back to university and now I work as a translator for companies in InglƩs para empresas en Barcelona Every effort has its rewards!

The tougher it is, the better the reward I say! It just so happens that Iā€™ve chosen to learn the hardest language (according to most) for English speakersā€¦ but Japanese isnā€™t necessarily hard, itā€™s more of a grind in my opinion. I think the hardest part about language learning is putting in the time.

6 Likes